


The Lion Is Not in the Room

by spookyactionatadistance



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Bureau of Balance - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Insomnia, Panic Attacks, nocturnal panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 21:53:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12262806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyactionatadistance/pseuds/spookyactionatadistance
Summary: The reader, a Bureau of Balance employee, is woken up by a nocturnal panic attack, but doesn't have to face it alone.





	The Lion Is Not in the Room

You fling yourself into consciousness, heart racing in the dark. Your throat is raw but you can't tell why, or even if, you’ve been screaming. All you know is that you are awake and in danger.

Or maybe not. You reach up and behind you, finally rewarded when your light clicks on. You’re in your dorm room after all, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the room. You try to breathe deeply, to calm your galloping pulse and erase the tang of fear from your mouth. Just as you’re starting to settle back down on the bed and untangle the knotted bedclothes, the door is thrown open. Your adrenaline surges again before you can process who it is.

Magnus bursts into the room, brandishing an axe and some serious bedhead. “(Y/n), what's wrong?" He moves to stand in front of you, glancing wildly round for the source of your distress. 

You lean back against the headboard. "It's nothing Mags, I'm sorry I woke you."

He lowers Railsplitter cautiously. "You sure? It didn't sound like nothing from down the hall."

"Yeah um, it happens sometimes. Sorry."

Magnus looks at you fully for the first time, taking in the shipwrecked bed and the pulse still rocketing away in the hollow of your throat. He leans his axe against the wall and shrugs. "Nothing to be sorry about, (Y/n). Mind if I..." he gestures to the side of the bed next to you. You shake your head.

He stretches out next to you, looking up at the star charts hung above your bed. "I used to get them, too. Hell, still do after a rough gig planetside.”

You lets out a shaky breath, unfold your legs, and release the sheet you’ve had in a death grip. "Anything help?"

Magnus is quiet, considering. "Walking, sometimes. Not trying to ignore it and go right back to sleep. I’m guessing it wasn’t a nightmare?"

You shake your head. "No, I don't remember dreaming, just waking up knowing I was being attacked, or something. It was like I was in the middle of running for my life, without knowing why.”

He nods. "That sucks.”

The two of you sit in silence for a bit. You close your eyes to focus on the room around you. You listen to the air filtration system whooshing gently in the background. The headboard is solid beneath your shoulders, the cream flannel blankets soft beneath your hand. There’s a lingering aroma of… cinnamon? No, nutmeg, from Taako’s spice cakes. Your senses remind you that you are here, safe, and at home.

You opens your eyes, only to shut them once more when you’re surprised by a yawn. Magnus glances up from a project he was about to start sanding. Wordlessly, he lifts an arm in silent invitation. You scoot over to settle against his side, dragging the blanket with you. Magnus lowers his arm around you and sets to work smoothing the rough edges from his wooden duck. 

You lean against him, his chest rising and falling, slowly and steadily. Between his warmth and the gentle rasp of the sandpaper, you are asleep in moments.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, wow, so this is my first publicly shared fic? I'm taking a leaf from the McElroy playbook and exercising my creativity. I hope you like it!


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